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(No Model.) a

A. L. PITNEY.

DEVICE FOR FASTENING GORDS 0R ROPES.

No. 375,832. Patented Jam, 3, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT L. PITNEY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

DEVICE FOR FASTENING CORDS OR ROPES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,832, dated January 3, 1M8.-

Application filed Kovcmber 25, 1837. Serial No. 256,094.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT L. PITNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at VVash- I ington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Fastening Cords or Ropes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention has for its object to provide means for easily and securely fastening a cord or cords in a holder or case, which cords may be made to embrace any object that is to be secured thereby, and then drawn into the holder and fastened without tying. Devices heretofore employed having in view this general object have in use been found liable to the objection that they subject the cord to too great friction, which interferes with the easy In some cases the fastener has been so constructed and arranged that two cords or two parts of a sin gle cord crossed each other, producing an inconvenient degree of friction, and in others the cords have been drawn through openings and across an abrupt or sharp edge, either of which arrangements caused an objectionable amount of friction, particularly when the cord In those devices in which the cords were drawn through openings in the fastening-lever their introductionin said openings was not sufficiently convenient, and they rendered the fastener unnecessarily difficult and inconvenient to manufacture; and where two levers, each having an opening, have been employed, the cords were thereby separated from each other, necessitating an increase in the width of the holder. This effect was further increased by the necessity of making these openings sufficiently large not only to admit the ready introduction of the cords when in good condition, but also large enough to allow their use therein when enlarged by the effect of moisture, frayed surfaces, misplaced strands, or other causes incident to their use.

By my present invention the opening in the fastening-lever is dispensed with, and also the necessity of crossing the cords or of drawing them abruptly across a comparatively sharp edge.

(No model.)

fastening-lever, a part of a side wall of the holder being shown in section; and Fig. 4, a similar view of a fastening-lever adapted to be placed on the other side of the holder; and Fig. 5 is an end View ofthe latter.

In the several figures, 1 represents the holder or case, and '2 the fasteninglevers. is preferably made of parts stamped from sheet metal, secured together by rivets formed of continuations of one of said metal parts and passed through suitable openings in the other part and riveted. The invention, however, is not limited to any particular method or material used in manufacture. The case is usually provided beneath its bottom with flanges for receiving a label, and with a longitudinal depression in its bottom, which acts upon the surface of the label and serves to hold it in place in the flanges, and it is adapted to receive at its open end 6 the cords, which are to be drawn longitudinally through it above the fasteninglevers 2. These levers are pivoted in the side walls of the ease, as indicated at 4, and near one end, which end is preferably toothed or serrated. The other and longer arms of the levers extend forward to the vicinity of apertures in the side walls of the case, where they are provided with lateral extensions or releasing finger-pieces, which extend through said apertures, one on each side, as shown at 5. These pieces are preferably prolonged beyond the body of the lever to afford increased leverage, and they may also be extended upwardly above the upper surface of the lever, as represented in Fig. 5. This latter feature is useful when the top of the case is cut away, as indicated by dotted lines at 7 in Fig. 1, and aflord means of guiding and retaining the cord laterally. In case but one lever is employed, it should be provided with these releasing or finget pieces on each side.

A cord having been passed around any article to be secured thereby is tightened by drawing it through the holder, the finger-pieces The case 7 [o ject, the long arms of the levers are allowed to drop bygravity, and are further depressed bya final pull on the cord or cords, whereby they are drawn over and down upon the ends of the levers within the holder or case. This downward direction of the cords is secured by the upper wall, 6, of the holder.

The serrated ends of the fasteninglevers are by the above-described operation made to press the cords against the upper wall of the holder, and they will be held securely until released by raising the long arms of the levers. The ends of these long arms, over which the cords pass and which lie within the case, are rounded to obviate unnecessary friction, and itis obvious that the present device has advantages in this respect over one in which the cords must be drawn through openings and across the sharp or abrupt edge of the metal surrounding such openings. The cords are also much more easily introduced than in those constructions wherein it is necessary to push them into and through aperturesin the levers. The present improvement avoids such evils as well as other difficulties and the additional expense incident to the manufacture of levers with openings. It will be apparent that the operation of the above-described device is substantially the same whether one or more cords and one or more fastening-levers are employed. Preferably it is made to be used with two levers and two cords, or with a single cord doubled by folding, so as to enable two parts of the same to be passed through the holder.

A vertical partition may be used in the holder at either or both ends of the same to guide the cords and separate them slightly; but their use is not necessary.

The use of the invention is not limited to cords, as ropes, bands, or even chains could be fastened by the use of the same, the parts being modified as to size by the manufacturer.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. The herein-described cord-fastening device, consisting of the holder and pivoted fastening-leversprovided with transverse portions extending laterally beyond the side walls of the holder, substantially as set forth.

2. The herein-described cord-fastening device, consisting of the holder and the pivoted fastening-lever provided with transverse portions extending laterally beyond the side walls of the holder, said portions having upward bends or extensions to guide the cords, substantially as set forth.

3. The hereindescribed cord-fastening device, consisting of the holder and the pivoted fiistening-lever provided with transverse portions extending laterally beyond the side walls of the holder, said portions having upward bonds or extensions prolonged beyond the end of the lever which is within the holder to increase the leverage, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix mysignature in presence oftwo witnesses.

ALBERT L. PITN Y.

\Vitnesses:

Geo. W. Evans BENJ. R. CATLIN. 

